Changes in Badminton Game Play across

Developmental Skill Levels among High School

Students
E\ -LDQ\X :DQJ &DOLIRUQLD 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\ %DNHUVHOG DQG Thomas, & Gallagher, 1993). For example, by applying stage
Wenhao Liu, Slippery Rock University theory, researchers in motor development have extensively studied
developmental sequences for fundamental skills such as throwing
$EVWUDFW (Roberton, 1977, 1978), hopping (Halverson & Williams, 1985),
The study examined changes in badminton game play across and catching (Strohmeyer, Williams, & Schaub-George, 1991).
developmental skill levels among high school students in a According to Barrett, Williams, McLester, and Ljungkvist (1997),
physical education setting. Videotapes of badminton game play of GHYHORSPHQWDOVHTXHQFHVDUHGHQHGDVGHVFULSWLRQVRIWKHVHULHV
80 students (40 boys and 40 girls) in the four developmental skill of changes in motor skills (i.e., developmental levels or steps) from
levels (each skill level had 10 boys and 10 girls) were randomly their initial attempts to their most advanced performance (p. 469).
selected from a database associated with the South Carolina Physical One way to study developmental sequences of motor skills is the
Education Assessment Program. An observational instrument component approach proposed by Roberton (1982) in which steps
was developed to code and compare components or categories RUOHYHOVRIWKHLQGLYLGXDOFRPSRQHQWVRIWKHERG\DUHLGHQWLHG
of badminton skill and tactics used among participants across the A limited number of studies have examined developmental
four developmental skill levels. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, VHTXHQFHVIRUVSRUWVSHFLFVNLOOV:KLOHVWXG\LQJGHYHORSPHQWDO
and percentage) of occurrence in skill/tactic components and sub- sequences for the overhead tennis serve, Messick (1991) examined
components were calculated for each skill level and compared six body component actions of the serve. The researcher found
among the four skill levels. The results revealed clear stages that developmental sequences for the preparatory trunk, elbow,
or changes in student badminton performance across different and forearm/racket actions met the prelongitudinal screening
developmental skill levels. The results also indicated that, while criteria proposed by Roberton (1978). Additionally, Barrett and
VWXGHQWV SHUIRUPDQFH SURJUHVV ZHUH REVHUYHG ZKHQ WKH VNLOO her colleagues (1997) investigated developmental sequences
level became higher, students used a large portion of immature for the vertical cradle in lacrosse. In the study, they examined
serves and strokes across all the skill levels, and the rates of using seven body component actions including basic rhythm, hand and
standard serves and strokes, forceful stroke, and return to home arm action, stick position, top hand grip, stick head and top arm
base were low. Performing immature forms of sports skill may be a action, position of hands, and bottom arm and hand action and
widely existing but ignored phenomenon in the physical education concluded that developmental sequences for the vertical cradle in
setting and needs more investigation. lacrosse existed; however, only some of these body components
Key words: motor competence, performance, strokes, changes were observed. In addition, they suggested that both the quality
and amount of instruction should be considered when studying
Sports and games have historically been an important part of GHYHORSPHQWDOVHTXHQFHVIRUVSRUWVSHFLFVNLOOV7KLVLVEHFDXVH
physical education curricula, especially at secondary levels. Helping the traditional age relationship used to hypothesize sequences
students develop motor competence has become a primary goal of IRUVNLOOVVSHFLFWRDVSRUWZDVQRWDVKHOSIXODVZKHQVHTXHQFHV
physical education programs (National Association for Sport and for a fundamental motor skill were being validated (p. 487). In
3K\VLFDO (GXFDWLRQ  7KH VLJQLFDQFH DQG LPSOLFDWLRQ RI other words, while validating the developmental sequence for
motor skill acquisition is far beyond the scope of discipline mastery VSRUWVSHFLFVNLOOVVWXGHQWVH[SHULHQFHDQGRSSRUWXQLW\WROHDUQ
DQG OLHV KHDYLO\ RQ WKH SRWHQWLDO WR IDFLOLWDWH FKLOGUHQV OLIHVSDQ the skills are critical.
physical activity participation (Centers for Disease Control and The expertise model has also been used to investigate the
Prevention, 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, development of motor skills. Researchers typically compare
0RWRUVNLOOOHYHOLVLGHQWLHGDVDQHQDEOLQJIDFWRURI\RXWK performance of skills and knowledge between novices and experts
physical activity participation (Welk, 1999), and youth who are using the expertise model. For example, French and Thomas (1987)
skilled are considered to be more likely to get involved in physical found that, compared with young novice basketball players, young
activity as opposed to those with poor motor skills (Okely, Booth, expert players exhibited superior basketball knowledge and skills
& Chey, 2004; Okely, Booth, & Patterson, 2001). Conversely, DQG ERWK FRJQLWLYH NQRZOHGJH DQG PRWRU VNLOOV LQXHQFHG WKHLU
those with poor motor performance are more likely to be excluded basketball game performance. Additionally, they suggested that
from games, resulting in a vicious cycle of decreasing physical opportunity for learning basketball knowledge and skills might be
activity participation (Bluechardt, Wiener, & Shephard, 1995). If PRUHLPSRUWDQWWKDQRQHVDJHLQGHYHORSLQJJDPHSOD\DELOLW\
developing motor competence is important to levels of physical Guided by the expertise model, Blomqvist, Luhtanen, and Laakso
activity, it is critical for physical educators to understand how (2000) examined the differences in badminton game performance
to help students develop motor skills and how sports and games and game understanding between young expert and novice
should be taught. EDGPLQWRQSOD\HUV$IWHUPHDVXULQJSOD\HUVOHYHOVRILQGLYLGXDO
Researchers in motor development and motor learning have skill components (serve, clear, drop, etc.), game performance (total
used different models, such as the stage model and the expertise amount and average length of shots, total distance travelled, etc.),
model, to study the development of motor skills (Thomas, and game understanding (responses to game videos), Blomqvist
volume 7, issue 1 29
Changes in Badminton
and colleagues found that, compared with novice badminton
SOD\HUVH[SHUWSOD\HUVH[KLELWHGVLJQLFDQWO\EHWWHUVNLOOOHYHOVLQ
ORQJ VHUYH DQG FOHDU SHUIRUPHG VLJQLFDQWO\ PRUH VKRWV ORQJHU
VKRWVEDFNKDQGVKRWVDQGWUDYHOOHGVLJQLFDQWO\ORQJHUGLVWDQFH
DQG GHPRQVWUDWHG EHWWHU JDPH XQGHUVWDQGLQJ7KH QGLQJV KDYH
provided valuable information in understanding how children and
adolescents develop skills and knowledge related to badminton
game play.
Physical education scholars have also been interested in how
games and sports should be taught. Vickers (1990) proposed the
Knowledge Structures (KS) Model to teach sports and games. This
model contained eight modules: creating knowledge structures,
analyzing learning environment, analyzing learners, developing a
scope and sequence, writing objectives, determining evaluation,
designing learning activities, and making realworld applications.
Guided by the KS model, a series of textbooks in teaching sports
and games such as Badminton: Steps to Success (Grice, 1996)
have been published.
One of the strengths of the KS model is that it clearly and
comprehensively presents the factors critical for the sports and
games. For example, Vickers (1990) suggested in teaching
students badminton the psychomotor skills/strategies should be
taught including the indicators of grip, pronation and supination,
underhand and serves, footwork, forehand overhead, backhand
overhead, strokes to the net, and strokes to the sidelines. Under
the indicator of the forehand overhead, there were several sub-
indicators of clear, drop, and smash. For the stroke of clear, it
included several types of clear: defensive, attack, and around the
head. Although the KS model may help teachers better understand
the skills and strategies related to badminton game play, the model
teachers better observe, assess, and interpret student performance
in badminton, and identify what should be taught next in teaching
effective badminton play. Identifying where students are in a skill
and what is likely to be the next level of development will facilitate
developing appropriate tasks for the students. In short, this study
may contribute to the knowledge base in teaching badminton and
WHDFKHUVPD\EHQHWIURPWKHVWXG\E\GHVLJQLQJEHWWHUOHDUQLQJ
experiences for students.
0HWKRG
3DUWLFLSDQWV
The participants were 80 high school students (40 boys and
40 girls) whose performances of badminton game play were
SUHYLRXVO\YLGHRWDSHG7KHYLGHRWDSHVFRQWDLQLQJWKHSDUWLFLSDQWV
performance were randomly selected from usable videotapes of 300
students in 16 high schools located in South Carolina in the United
States. All these videotapes belonged to a database associated
with the South Carolina Physical Education Assessment Program
(SCPEAP), which was a statewide assessment initiative to assess
the effectiveness of school physical education programs. The
high school assessment program of the SCPEAP included several
performance indicators, and one of them was demonstrating
competency in at least two movement forms. To assess the extent
of competency in badminton game play, high school students in
South Carolina in the United States were videotaped for their
badminton game play at the end of their badminton units.
7KH DVVHVVPHQW WDVN LQ EDGPLQWRQ ZDV WR SOD\ D PRGLHG
game of singles badminton with some evidence of offensive and
defensive play and good techniques (South Carolina Alliance for
Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance [SCAHPERD],
fails to present developmental sequence, or changing processes of  S 7KH SURWRFROV SURYLGHG E\ 6&3($3 IRU OPLQJ
game play ability. The KS model only describes advanced levels of VWXGHQWV SHUIRUPDQFH RI EDGPLQWRQ JDPH SOD\ VXJJHVWHG 2QH
skills and strategies in badminton game play, but does not describe
the process through which students may move from an initial
stage to a more advanced stage. As a result, limited knowledge is
available regarding how students develop game play ability from
an initial learning stage to a relatively advanced stage. Therefore,
the purpose of this study was to examine the stages of learning in
SOD\LQJEDGPLQWRQDFURVVGHYHORSPHQWDOVNLOOOHYHOV6SHFLFDOO\
the study was designed to address the following questions: How
did student performances in badminton games change across
developmental skill levels? What stages of learning to play
badminton might badminton beginners experience? Badminton
was selected for the content area in the study because it has been
FDPHUDSUHIHUDEO\HOHYDWHGVKRXOGEHVXIFLHQWWRFDSWXUHSOD\
RQ HDFK VLGH RI WKH FRXUW OPLQJ IURP WKH VLGH 6&$+3(5'
2000, p. 14). Physical education teachers who participated in the
assessment program videotaped and scored student badminton
performance with a rubric developed by SCPEAP. Students were
given an overall score from 0 to 3 based on their performances
in the games. The accuracy and the reliability of the badminton
performance scores submitted were examined by a panel of
SCPEAP experts through a monitoring process to make sure that
the score given matched the performance level. These experts took
10% of the performance scores and examined the inter-observer
agreement of the submitted scores, and only the inter-observer
LGHQWLHG DV D OLIHORQJ JDPH 6DPXHO  DQG LV D SRSXODU
physical education activity in middle and high schools (Ross,
1994).
7KLV VWXG\ LV VLJQLFDQW IRU WZR UHDVRQV )LUVW NQRZOHGJH
of changes in developing game play ability is a critical part of
pedagogical content knowledge in physical education. Like the
knowledge of developmental sequences for fundamental and sport
VSHFLFVNLOOVWKHNQRZOHGJHRIFKDQJHVLQGHYHORSLQJEDGPLQWRQ
game ability may help teachers see the big picture of how students
move from a lower skill level to a higher level of performance in
badminton. Second, understanding the changing process of learning
game skills and tactics in badminton may allow teachers to better
develop instructional strategies. This may serve as a tool to help
30 Journal of Research
agreement of the submitted scores above 80% was acceptable.
More detailed information regarding the SCPEAP and the relevant
data collection protocols are available in a monograph published
in Journal of Teaching in Physical Education (Rink & Williams,
2003).
$ VWUDWLHG VHOHFWLRQ RI WKH SDUWLFLSDQWV IURP WKH XVHDEOH
YLGHRWDSHV ZDV XVHG IRU VDPSOLQJ 6SHFLFDOO\ DOO RI WKH 
SRWHQWLDO SDUWLFLSDQWV ZHUH UVW JURXSHG E\ WKHLU VNLOO OHYHO DQG
gender, and then each participant in each group was assigned a
number-name. A random number table was used to select 20
participants (10 boys and 10 girls) from each of the four skill levels
associated with the 0-3 scores, totaling 80 participants. Participants
who were originally scored 0 in the SCPEAP were in Level 1, the
 Changes in Badminton

lowest level; those with an original score of 3 were put in Level 4, categories were essential to achieve reliability of the observational
the highest level. The other two skill levels with a score of 1 or 2 instrument. For those common serves and strokes such as long
were named Level 2 or Level 3 accordingly. serve, short serve, drive serve, clear, drop, drive and smash, their
2EVHUYDWLRQDO,QVWUXPHQW
An observational instrument used to analyze badminton game
SHUIRUPDQFH ZDV GHYHORSHG LQ IRXU SKDVHV ,Q WKH UVW SKDVH D
narrative technique was used to identify all possible badminton skill
FRPSRQHQWV LQ SDUWLFLSDQWV EDGPLQWRQ JDPH SOD\ 6SHFLFDOO\
WKH UVW DXWKRU VSHQW DSSUR[LPDWHO\  KRXUV H[DPLQLQJ WKH
videotaped performance of badminton games and took notes on
how the participants performed all types of serves, strokes, shuttle
trajectories and landings, and foot movements. The narrative
technique is an initial step in developing categories or components
RI VSHFLF VSRUWV VNLOOV IRU WKH SXUSRVH RI IXUWKHU GHYHORSLQJ DQ
GHQLWLRQVZHUHIRXQGLQEDGPLQWRQWH[WERRNVHJ*ULFH
7KH GHQLWLRQV RI WKH LQFRUUHFW LPPDWXUH DQG GHYHORSPHQWDO
serves and strokes that occurred among participants but were not
addressed by textbooks were made and are presented in Table 1.
,QWKHQDOSKDVHRILQVWUXPHQWGHYHORSPHQWWKUHHVWHSVZHUH
XVHGWRYDOLGDWHWKHREVHUYDWLRQDOLQVWUXPHQW7KHUVWVWHSZDVWR
establish the content validity of the instrument. Three experts who
taught badminton at the college level or who conducted extensive
research in badminton were invited to review the badminton skill
components included in the conceptual model. In the second
step, the instrument was used to differentiate the skill levels of
badminton game play between a group of college students who
HIFLHQWREVHUYDWLRQDOLQVWUXPHQW7KRPDV 1HOVRQ regularly played badminton games and a group of high school
In the second phase, a conceptual model (see Figure 1) containing students who were beginning players. The results indicated that
all possible badminton skill components that participants might use the instrument was able to distinguish skill levels between the two
in badminton play was developed based on the observations and groups. A similar procedure to examine construct validity of the
GHWDLOHG QRWHV WDNHQ LQ WKH UVW SKDVH QDUUDWLYH WHFKQLTXH7KH
model served as a guideline to categorize and analyze badminton
skill components observed among participants.
7KHWKLUGSKDVHZDVWRGHQHDOOWKHEDGPLQWRQVNLOOFDWHJRULHV
in the model and develop a coding sheet to code these skill
FDWHJRULHV 6WULFW DQG FOHDU GHQLWLRQV RI DOO WKH UHOHYDQW VNLOO
observational instrument in badminton was used in a previous
study (Blomqvist, Lutanen, Laakso, & Keskinen, 2000).
The last step to validate the instrument was to examine the
inter-observer agreement when coding badminton skill categories
with the instrument. A research assistant who regularly played
badminton and had good knowledge in badminton was trained to

Figure 1. Conceptual Model for Categorizing and Analyzing Performance in Badminton Game Play.

volume 7, issue 1 31
Changes in Badminton

 7DEOH'HQLWLRQVRIWKH,PPDWXUH%DGPLQWRQ6NLOOVDQG7DFWLFV

Indicator & Sub-Indicator Description

Serve
Sever Failure A shuttle into the illegal service area, including a shuttle going into the net, out of the service area, or
a failure contact of the shuttle.

Developmental Serve A serve that cannot be categorized as a Long Serve, Short Serve, or Drive Serve. With a Developmental
Serve, the shuttle typically lands either in the front or middle service areas with a high trajectory that
provides opponents with good opportunity to smash.

Return play
Contact Failure with Intent
Undifferentiated Shot
A movement in which a student fails to contact the shuttle with a racket in an attempt to return a shot hit from
his/her opponent.
A shot is performed with an awkward and odd form. The intent of the shot is not clear and the shot cannot be
categorized into Clear, Drop, Drive, Smash, Cooperative Shot, or Developmental Shot. Typically, this shot is
executed in a poor body position.

Cooperative Shot A shot is performed in hitting the shuttle toward an opponent with a relatively slow speed and a high
trajectory. Typically, the shuttle is placed in the center of the court.

Developmental Shot A shot is performed with an observable intent to perform any of the strokes of Clear, Drop, Drive, and
Smash, but the execution of the shot is not effective and exhibits some problems in controlling the trajectory,
placement, or power of the shot.

5HWXUQWR+RPHEDVH $PRYHPHQWWKDWDVWXGHQWLPPHGLDWHO\WDNHVDWOHDVWRQHVWHSWRPRYHWRWKHFHQWHURIWKHRQHVKDOIFRXUW
after serving or hitting the shuttle back to his/her opponent (the behavior must occur before the opponent
hits the shuttle back).

Use of Forceful Stroke

Forceful Stroke with Intent Use of a force strokes like the Smash and Drive to give opponents little time to return the shot. Intent in the
forceful stroke must be observable.

 )RUFHIXO6KRWZLWKRXW,QWHQW 8VHRIDVKRWWKDWLVW\SLFDOO\KLWYHU\KDUGEXWWKHLQWHQWRIWKHVKRWFDQQRWEHLGHQWLHG$QDZNZDUGIRUP
of the shot is often observed and the shuttle hit usually goes into the net or out of the boundary.

Non-forceful Stroke Use of a stroke that is performed without much power. Obviously, those who use this shot make no attempt
to use forceful strokes to win point in return play.

Keeping Shuttle Away from Opponent

No Movement Needed A shuttle is placed close to an opponent who is able to reach and return the shuttle without moving
his/her body.

One Step A shuttle is placed away from an opponent who needs to take one step to reach and return the shuttle.

Two or Three Steps A shuttle is placed away from an opponent who needs to take at least two or three steps to reach and return
the shuttle.

IDFHGWKHFDPHUD$GGLWLRQDOO\LQWKLVYHPLQXWHFOHDUYLHZWKHUH
use the coding system. On completion of the training, the assistant
DQGWKHUVWDXWKRULQGHSHQGHQWO\FRGHGVWXGHQWSHUIRUPDQFHV was a large range in the number of hits in return play among the
in badminton games and the inter-observer agreement on each participants. To standardize the analysis procedures, the badminton
badminton category ranged from 81.2% to 89.8%. SHUIRUPDQFHRIHDFKVWXGHQWZDVFRGHGIRUYHPLQXWHVRUUHWXUQ
KLWVZKLFKHYHUFDPHUVW7KHUVWDXWKRUH[DPLQHGWKHUHOLDELOLW\
'DWD&ROOHFWLRQDQG$QDO\VLV of the data by randomly selecting 10 participants, re-coding their
Copies of the videotapes of participant performance in performance of the game, comparing the coding results with the
badminton game play (n = 80) were made from the SCPEAP prior coding results, and computing the intra-observer agreement.
database. Permission for using the videotapes for the research The intra-observer agreement in each category ranged from 86.6%
was obtained from SCPEAP. The coding sheet, including all to 93.5%.
EDGPLQWRQVNLOOFDWHJRULHVIRUZKLFKWKHGHQLWLRQVZHUHFOHDUO\ Descriptive statistics were used to report the performance
made, was used to code the videotaped performance of game play. patterns of badminton game play across the skill levels. The
The original videotaped badminton game play for each student percentage of occurrence of each skill category for each participant
lasted 10 minutes, and a clear view of badminton performance was computed by using the total number of frequency of the skill
IRUDSDUWLFLSDQWZDVRQO\DYDLODEOHIRUYHPLQXWHVZKHQKHVKH category divided by the total number of return hits (or serves)
32 Journal of Research

performed by the participant. For example, for participant A, the
percentage of the long serve was computed by using the number of
the long serve divided by the total number of serves participant A
performed. Percentage mean and standard deviation for each skill
category were then computed for each developmental skill level
and used to describe student performance in badminton game play
(e.g., French, Werner, Rink, Taylor, & Hussey 1996).
5HVXOWV
6HUYH
Serve performance of serve failure, developmental serve, short
serve, long serve, and drive serve across the four developmental
skill levels are presented in Figure 2. The serve failure constituted
70% of all the serves at Level 1, and dropped considerably to
29.3% at Level 2. The developmental serve was observed with
the second highest occurrence (27.3%) at Level 1, and increased
to the largest percentage (more than 40%) at Levels 2 to 4. As
the students moved to higher skill levels, they began to use the
short serve, which appeared with 1.7% occurrence at Level 1 and
steadily increased to18.5% at Level 4. The long serve was observed
with less than 5% occurrence at Levels 1 and 2, and rose sharply
to almost 20% at Levels 3 and 4. As for the drive serve, the most
challenging serve observed, it appeared with the lowest percentage
across the four developmental skill levels, ranging from 0.5% to
5.8%.
Figure 2. Percentage of Occurrence in Categories of Serve across
Skill Levels.
6WURNHLQ5HWXUQ3OD\
6WURNH LQ UHWXUQ SOD\ LQFOXGHG WKH IROORZLQJ YH FDWHJRULHV
immature stroke, standard stroke, shuttle away from opponent, use
RIIRUFHIXOVWURNHDQGUHWXUQWRKRPHEDVH7KHUHVXOWVRIWKHYH
categories are presented as follow.
Changes in Badminton
the four immature strokes across all skill levels. Cooperative shot
and undifferentiated shot followed the same pattern, decreasing
from 13.1% to 2.3% and 18.3% to 6.2% from Level 1 to Level 4,
with the cooperative shot occurring at the lowest rate across the
four developmental skill levels. As for the developmental shot, it
was the most frequently used immature stroke across the four skill
levels. Students at Levels 2 and 3 used more developmental shots
in the games with 37.1 % and 34 %, respectively. Even at Level
4, 26.8% of the strokes were categorized as a developmental shot.
Finally, it was noticeable that the four immature strokes comprised
the majority of the strokes in return play at Level 1 (86%), Level 2
(71%), and Level 3 (56%), and it was not until at Level 4 that the
students decreased the immature strokes to less than half (45%).
Figure 3. Percentage of Occurrence in Categories of Immature
Stroke across Skill Levels.
Figure 4. Percentage of Occurrence in Categories of Standard
Stroke across Skill Levels.
6WDQGDUG6WURNH Four sub-categories were under this category:
clear, drive, drop, and smash. All of the four standard strokes
appeared at Level 1 with very low rates, ranging from 2% to 6.3%,
and increased with different patterns as the skill level moved
,PPDWXUH 6WURNH Immature strokes observed in this study
contained contact failure, cooperative shot, undifferentiated
shot, and developmental shot. Figure 3 presents percentages
of occurrence in these immature strokes across the skill levels.
Results indicated that the rate of the contact failure decreased
from 25.1% to 9.6 % as the skill level enhanced from Level 1
to Level 4, but remained the second highest occurrence among
KLJKHUVHH)LJXUH6SHFLFDOO\WKHXVHRIWKHFOHDULQFUHDVHG
sharply from 2% at Level 1 to 14.3% at Level 2, and continued
to increase steadily at Level 3 (18.7%) and Level 4 (22.7%). In
fact, the use of the clear constituted the largest portion among the
four standard strokes at Level 2 to Level 4. The use of the drive
remained low at Level 1 (6.3%) and Level 2 (4.3%), and then rose
considerably to 11.7% at Level 3 and 13.2% at Level 4, the second
volume 7, issue 1 33
Changes in Badminton

highest at these two skill levels. The drop experienced a small learning badminton game play among beginners, thus facilitating
increase in the rate of use from 3.7% at Level 1 to 6.3% at Level 3, these changes in badminton teaching.
and increased suddenly to 12.5% at Level 4. As for the smash, the The results indicate that, when learning the serve, high school
use of it increased slowly at each higher level. When Level 4 was beginning learners experienced a frustrated period at Level 1 in
reached, the smash still remained low in its use rate (7.2%), the which they frequently (70% of the serve) failed to place the shuttle
lowest rate among the four standard strokes at Level 4. into legal service area or could not get the shuttle to go over the
net (serve failure). This frustration, however, reduced largely at
.HHSLQJ 6KXWWOH $ZD\ IURP 2SSRQHQW This category Level 2 (less than 30% of the serve). In addition, when the serve
contained three sub-categories: no movement needed, one step failure dropped after Level 1, the students most frequently used
(away from the opponent), and two or three steps (away from the WKHGHYHORSPHQWDOVHUYHGHQHGDVRQHWKDWODQGVLQWKHIURQWRU
opponent). As shown in Figure 5, students gradually increased middle service area with a high trajectory providing opponents
placing the shuttle two or three steps away from an opponent (39.6 with a good opportunity to smash, across all the subsequent
to 56.4 %) as they moved from Level 1 to Level 4. The other two skill levels. In contrast, while the use of standard serves (short
sub-categories (no movement needed and one step), however, serve, long serve, and drive serve) increased with enhanced skill
represented a decreasing pattern. levels, there was limited use of these serves across the four levels,
especially the drive serve.
)RU LPSOLFDWLRQV WKH UVW LQVWUXFWLRQDO REMHFWLYH LQ WKH VHUYH
could be to help students place the shuttle into the legal service
area. In other words, the use of the developmental serve should be
encouraged even if it is an immature serve and never introduced
in any textbook. The developmental serve is the easiest way to
allow badminton beginners to hit the shuttle over the net and into
the legal service area, allowing students to experience a sense
of success and gain motivation. Furthermore, the developmental
VHUYHLVWKHUVWSUHUHTXLVLWHIRUEDGPLQWRQJDPHSOD\WREHJLQIRU
beginners, and a necessary transition to mastering any standard
serve. We suggest that physical education teachers formally
introduce the developmental serve in their badminton units before
or when introducing standard serves, and that the developmental
Figure 5. Percentage of Occurrence in Categories of Keeping serve should be allowed as a major serve format across the entire
Shuttle Away from Opponent across Skill Levels. badminton unit for a large portion of students.
With respect to the standard serves such as the short serve, long
8VHRI)RUFHIXO6WURNH Results suggested that the majority of serve, and drive serve, their use could be very limited in general
the students used non-forceful stroke at Level 1 (87.7%), Level SK\VLFDOHGXFDWLRQFODVVHVEDVHGRQWKHQGLQJVRIWKLVVWXG\0DQ\
2 (87.3%), Level 3 (80.6%), and Level 4 (79.6%). The students students might not be able to master standard serves, especially
gradually increased the use of forceful stroke with intent from 8.3 the drive serve, even at a late stage of a badminton unit. It will
to 20.4 % as they moved to higher skill levels. A slight decrease in remain a challenging task for physical education teachers to deal
the use of forceful shot without intent (4.0 to 1.2 %) was observed with how to facilitate the transition from the developmental serve
as students moved from Level 1 to Level 3. No student at Level 4 to the standard serves in the physical education class. In addition,
used any forceful shot without intent. when teaching standard drives, we suggest teaching them in the
5HWXUQWR+RPH%DVH As skill levels moved from low to high, sequence of short serve, long serve, and drive serve based on the
participants rapidly increased the rate of returning to home base. QGLQJVRIWKHVWXG\
6SHFLFDOO\SDUWLFLSDQWVUHWXUQHGWRWKHLUKRPHEDVHZLWKDUDWHRI 7KHQGLQJVRIWKHVWXG\DOVRUHYHDOWKDWWKHPRVWIUHTXHQWO\
1.7% at Level 1, 23.8% at Level 2, 40.5% at Level 3, and 45.7% used strokes in return play were immature strokes (contact failure,
at Level 4, respectively. The largest progress was made between cooperative shot, undifferentiated shot, and developmental shot)
Level 1 and Level 2. However, even at Level 4, more than 50% of among the beginning learners. It is encouraging, however, that
the time participants failed to return to their home base after hitting the developmental shot, the most mature shot in the immature
the shuttle. stroke category, occurred at the highest rate across all the four
skill levels. It is also encouraging that the occurrence of the other
'LVFXVVLRQ three immature strokes (contact failure, cooperative shot, and
7KLVVWXG\H[DPLQHGVSHFLFVWXGHQWSHUIRUPDQFHFKDQJHVLQ undifferentiated shot) obviously dropped when the skill level was
badminton game play across different developmental skill levels. enhanced. In addition, the sequence of occurrence (from high to
We intentionally use developmental skill levels across the entire low) for these three immature strokes across all the skill levels was
manuscript to send the message that all participants in this study, the same: contact failure, undifferentiated shot, and cooperative
regardless of skill levels, were beginning learners in badminton. shot. While previous research reported that high school students
Therefore, the information provided here is unique in helping extensively used cooperative play in badminton games (French et
physical education teachers understand changes of performance in al., 1996), the cooperative shot had the lowest occurrence among
34 Journal of Research

the immature strokes in this study. It is possible that the participant
performance was videotaped during game play and the participants
made efforts to win in this study, thus using the cooperative shot at
a very low rate. This could also account for the high occurrence of
the developmental shot found in this study, the shot that was most
close to any standard stroke (clear, drive, drop, or smash).
2Q WKH RWKHU KDQG WKH QGLQJV VKRZ WKDW WKH LQFLGHQFHV RI
using the standard strokes in return play was very low, especially
at Level 1 and Level 2, and did not go over 50% in the return play
XQWLO /HYHO :LWK UHVSHFW WR VSHFLF VWDQGDUG VWURNHV VWXGHQWV
did not show a great gain in the use of the clear until they reached
Level 2, the drive until Level 3, and the drop until Level 4. As
for the smash, the most challenging stroke observed in return play
in the study, it remained a lower rate even at Level 4. The data
suggest that it may take a while for badminton beginners in the
physical education class to be able to use standard strokes more
frequently.
For implications, physical education teachers may want to be
tolerant, even encourage, the use of some immature strokes (again,
none of them are likely to be introduced by physical education
teachers or in textbooks), especially at an early stage of instruction.
%DVHG RQ WKH QGLQJV WKH FRRSHUDWLYH VKRW DQG XQGLIIHUHQWLDWHG
shot are the most initial levels of successful strokes in return
play. The developmental shot, an attempt with an observable
intent to perform any of the standard strokes (clear, drop, drive,
or smash) but also with poor control in trajectory, placement, or
power, is the last stage of transition to standard strokes. The use
of the developmental shot could be considered as a basic indicator
of teaching effectiveness or student learning outcomes before
VLJQLFDQWJDLQRIDQ\VWDQGDUGVWURNHVLQUHWXUQSOD\RFFXUV
$QRWKHU LPSOLFDWLRQ LV EDVHG RQ WKH QGLQJ WKDW VWXGHQWV
increased the use of standard strokes in badminton game play in
the following order: clear, drive, drop, and smash. This order is
FRQVLVWHQW ZLWK WKH QGLQJV UHSRUWHG E\ %ORPTYLVW /XKWDQHQ
and Laakso (2000) that the novice youth players extensively used
the clear in badminton games, whereas the expert players more
frequently used the drop and smash. Thereby, we suggest that
physical education teachers teach standard strokes in this same
order, and estimate teaching effectiveness or student performance
level based on the occurrence of clear, drive, drop, and/or smash.
In addition to the serves and strokes in return play, the study
DOVRSURGXFHGWKHQGLQJVLQVKXWWOHSODFHPHQWNHHSLQJWKHVKXWWOH
away from opponents) in return play, use of forceful stroke with
the drive or smash, and return to home base after stroking. With
UHVSHFWWRNHHSLQJWKHVKXWWOHDZD\IURPRSSRQHQWVWKHQGLQJV
are very different from those of serves and strokes in that mature
tactics were observed most frequently across all the skill levels.
6SHFLFDOO\ NHHSLQJ WKH VKXWWOH WZR RU WKUHH VWHSV DZD\ IURP
opponents occurred at the highest rate across all the skill levels
with an increasing trend with each higher level, and one step
away and no movement needed occurred at the rates lower than
two or three steps away with a decreasing trend with each higher
level. We would like to interpret this phenomenon as something
unintentional, for the most part, rather than intentional for the
following reasons.
First, it is not logical for a large portion of the badminton beginners
to demonstrate mature tactics in shuttle placement with intended
Changes in Badminton
control during beginning stages of learning (including Level 1),
especially when they most frequently performed immature serves
(serve failure and developmental serve) and immature strokes in
return play (contact failure, cooperative shot, undifferentiated
shot, and developmental shot) at the same time. Secondly, of
the four immature strokes, the developmental shot occurred at
WKH KLJKHVW UDWH $JDLQ WKH GHYHORSPHQWDO VKRW ZDV GHQHG LQ
this study as a shot with an observable intent to perform any of
the standard strokes but with problems in controlling trajectory,
placement, or power. Thus, using the developmental shot at a high
rate might result in irregular or random shuttle placement that
made the opponents move. In addition, another immature stroke,
the undifferentiated shot, was one performed with an awkward and
odd form, which had a high chance as well of no regular shuttle
SODFHPHQWUHVXOWLQJLQRSSRQHQWVPRYLQJ&RQVHTXHQWO\LWPLJKW
be reasonable to infer that the high rate of shuttle placement of two
or three steps away from opponents observed in this study was
ODUJHO\GXHWRWKHXQLQWHQGHGSHUIRUPDQFHUHVXOWLQJIURPVWXGHQWV
inability to control shuttle placement.
The forceful stroke with the drive or smash appeared at very
low rates across all the levels, with or without intent, although
its use increased with enhanced skill levels. A similar result was
reported in another study (Blomqvist, Luhtanen, & Laakso, 2000)
that the expert young players intended more frequently to use
forceful shots in the game, while the novice players chose to hit
the shuttle over the net and keep the shuttle in play. Given that
the participants in the study were all badminton beginners, it is
UHDVRQDEOHWRQGWKHPDVDZKROHWRXVHIRUFHIXOVWURNHVDWOLPLWHG
rates. For implications, successfully and forcefully using the drive
and smash may not be an appropriate instructional objective for all
students in physical education classes, and could only be expected
at a later stage of the badminton unit with limited occurrence
or among limited students. As for the return to home base after
VWURNLQJLQUHWXUQSOD\WKHQGLQJLQGLFDWHVWKDWLWFRXOGEHDQDUHD
to be improved relatively quickly. Teachers could require students
to perform it at the very beginning stage of the badminton game
play, and use it as a criterion to measure or differentiate student
progress.
7KHQGLQJVRIWKHVWXG\PD\SURYLGHYDOXDEOHLQIRUPDWLRQIRU
DVVHVVLQJ EHJLQQHUV EDGPLQWRQ SHUIRUPDQFH )RU LQVWDQFH ERWK
developmental serve and developmental shot should be included
in badminton assessment at the beginning of the learning stage. It
appears that it would be more appropriate to use the developmental
VHUYH DQG GHYHORSPHQWDO VKRW WR PHDVXUH EHJLQQLQJ OHDUQHUV
performance in badminton, rather than using those standard serves
and shots at an early learning stage.
,Q DGGLWLRQ WR WKH LPSOLFDWLRQV ZLWK VSHFLF QGLQJV RI WKH
study discussed above, the study also provides an opportunity
IRUUHHFWLRQRQWHDFKLQJVSRUWVVNLOOLQJHQHUDO5HVHDUFKHUVDQG
practitioners seldom pay much attention to immature skills or
tactics demonstrated among learners before they master standard
ones, and how these immature skills or tactics change and lead
to a transition to more mature skills or tactics. However, the
data of the study suggest that students using immature forms
of sports skill during initial learning stages could be a widely
existing but ignored and uninvestigated phenomenon. Studying
and understanding student immature forms of game play and their
volume 7, issue 1 35
Changes in Badminton
progress toward more mature forms may facilitate student sports
skill acquisition. On the other hand, providing instructions based
on expert performance or biomechanical analyses and requiring
standard or mature movement patterns for beginning learners
would result in poorer teaching effectiveness in many situations
(Wulf & Weigelt, 1997).
Secondly, while sports skill acquisition is considered a key
focus of physical education, there is a lack of consensus regarding
to what extent student skillfulness should and/or could be reached
and hope that the study will trigger more research in sports skill
acquisition in physical education settings.
5HIHUHQFHV
Barrett, K. R., Williams, K., McLester, J., & Ljungkvist, S. (1997).
Developmental sequences for the vertical cradle in lacrosse: An
exploratory study. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 16,
469-489.
Blomqvist, M., Luhtanen, P., & Laakso, L. (2000). Expert-novice
differences in game performance and game understanding of youth
(QQLV1HZHOO3DQJUD]L7KHQGLQJVRIWKH
study lead us to the following statement in this regard. Given
limited allocated time for physical education classes, the genetic
factor impacting sports skill acquisition, and the lack of valid and
UHOLDEOHVSRUWVVNLOOWHVWVLWFRXOGEHGLIFXOWWRH[SHFWDOOVWXGHQWV
to master skills of a sport taught in the physical education class
alone (Pangrazi, 2010). On the other hand, based on the belief in
the positive impact of sports skill on physical activity participation
and from the perspective of educational physical education (Ennis,
2011), we advocate skill-oriented practice or physical activity in
the physical education class plus supplementary after school skill-
oriented physical activity programs through school-community
partnerships. This might be an appropriate approach to contributing
WR LQFUHDVHG SK\VLFDO DFWLYLW\ SDUWLFLSDWLRQ WQHVV GHYHORSPHQW
and sports skill acquisition as well.
We realize that some limitations exist in this study. Due to
the use of existing videotaped student badminton performance,
WKH LQXHQFH RI WKH LQVWUXFWLRQDO SURFHVV RQ VWXGHQW EDGPLQWRQ
performance is not known and was not taken into account in this
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length of badminton units, which could impact the level of student
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the selected videotapes represented 20 students in each of the four
VNLOO OHYHOV WKH VNLOO GLVWULEXWLRQ GRHV QRW QHFHVVDULO\ UHHFW WKH
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this study in badminton game play across the developmental skill
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exactly match changes from longitudinal observations. Despite
all these limitations, however, the study provides valuable and
unique information in guiding badminton teaching in the physical
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desirable.
In conclusion, the study initially examined performance change
in badminton game play across different developmental skill levels
among high school students, contributing to the knowledge base in
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SOD\ 7KH RWKHU FRQWULEXWLRQ LV WKH LGHQWLFDWLRQ RI WKH OHDUQLQJ
stages or performance changes of badminton game play across
WKHGHYHORSPHQWDOVNLOOOHYHOV:HEHOLHYHWKDWWKHQGLQJVRIWKLV
1HZHOO.03K\VLFDOHGXFDWLRQRIDQGWKURXJKWQHVVDQGVNLOO
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36 Journal of Research

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volume 7, issue 1 37
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